Nothing so constantly troubled and pained me during the progress of
the school at Lexington, as the strange passion for the piano. Of
the one hundred and forty girls present during the third year, I
cannot recall more than three or four who possessed any decided
musical capacity, while nearly a hundred studied music. Fifteen
pianos were going constantly.
Take any one of sixty or seventy who were studying music, simply
because it was fashionable, and consider the waste. One hundred and
fifty to three hundred dollars a year for instruction, with two to
five hours' exhaustive daily practice. I cannot bear to think that
this foolish waste, and worse than waste, was going on for years, in
an institution under my management. But there are influences at work
stronger than the will of the teachers. Those influences come from
established prejudices.
Although the money and time given to the piano, among a large
proportion of the girls in our school, was worse than wasted, I soon
found that three out of four of them would refuse to enter the
school, or remain in it, if they were urged not to study music.
After a young woman has studied music for five years, and has
twisted her spine all out of shape in practicing upon the piano, she
marries, plays a little on the splendid "Grand" which "Dear Aunt"
gives her as a wedding present, and then drops it forever. If there
is decided talent, she may continue; but I speak of the results as I
have seen them.